The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism: on Technology

Tea Party: Leadership opposes net neutrality; grassroots has no opinion

TPP was originally supported by FreedomWorks. TPP also lines up in lockstep with FreedomWorks on certain issues where grassroots activists seem to have no say or involvement. In the spring of 2011, for example, the Tea Party Patriots' homepage bore a lengthy statement of opposition to net neutrality, a policy also opposed by FreedomWorks and the telecommunications industry. But this issue was literally never raised in any of our Tea Party meetings or interviews. The prominent TPP stance on net neutrality is not attributable to grassroots mobilization.